Press Release

Lexia Debuts New PowerUp Literacy Program, Enhancing Core English Language Arts Instruction for Non-Proficient Readers in Grades Six and Above

PowerUp rounds out Lexia’s pre-K–12 literacy offerings, giving district administrators a trusted partner for their literacy instruction and assessment needs across all grade levels

Boston, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Center for Education Statistics has found thatapproximately two-thirds of eighth-grade students in the United States cannot read proficiently; that percentage has held relatively steady for 25 years. To help schools and districts close the achievement gap for non-proficient readers in grades six and above,Lexia Learning, aRosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) Company, has released Lexia PowerUp Literacy™. The new program is designed to simultaneously accelerate the development of both fundamental literacy skills and higher-order thinking skills through adaptive learning paths.

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Developed specifically for adolescent students, PowerUp identifies skill gaps and provides personalized and systematic instruction in word study, grammar and comprehension. By engaging students with a range of relevant, high-interest authentic texts; instructional videos; and game-based motivational elements, PowerUp is intended to help students take ownership of their learning, acknowledging their growing autonomy and building their confidence.

“Schools and districts need to prepare all middle and high school students, including non-proficient readers, for college and careers, so closing the literacy achievement gap in grades 6-12 is often a matter of special concern. That’s especially true when teachers don’t feel they have the training or tools to support non-proficient readers,” said Lexia President Nick Gaehde. “PowerUp equips teachers with the knowledge, data and instructional resources they need to support and motivate those readers.”

PowerUp is the newest addition to Lexia’s pre-K–12 portfolio of literacy solutions. The company’s award-winning Lexia Reading Core5® program is research-proven to accelerate the development of fundamental literacy skills for students of all abilities in grades pre-K–5. Lexia RAPID Assessment™ is a computer-adaptive universal screener for K-12 students that assesses the skills most predictive of end-of-year reading success. Lexia has designed each of these products to address the specific needs of the target age group, whether emergent readers or adolescent readers.

“Lexia gave us exactly what we needed with RAPID and PowerUp,” said Nancy Talley, Curriculum Director, River Valley Middle School, Caledonia, Ohio, who beta-tested the product. “After discovering through our use of RAPID that our entire middle school population lacked proficiency in grammar, we turned to PowerUp to help close these skill gaps. RAPID had uncovered a gap in our whole class literacy instruction and identified our non-proficient readers. PowerUp, in turn, gave these students the personalized, student-driven learning they required and supported teachers with targeted offline instructional materials.”

“With more than 30 years of experience in reading pedagogy and research and several peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the efficacy of our instructional approach, we have always put the needs of teachers and students at the core of what we do,” added Gaehde. “PowerUp is our latest extension of this mission. We want to empower teachers who might otherwise feel unprepared to support non-proficient readers. And we want to meet the needs of a wide range of students—whether they are struggling or nearly proficient readers—through a highly engaging and personalized instruction experience that we believe will effectively address the decades-long gap in reading proficiency across our country.”

About Lexia LearningLexia Learning, a division of Rosetta Stone, empowers educators through adaptive assessment and personalized instruction. For more than 30 years, the company has been on the leading edge of research and product development as it relates to student reading skills. With a robust offering that includes solutions for differentiated instruction, personalized learning and assessment, Lexia Learning provides educators with the tools to intensify and accelerate literacy skills development for students of all abilities. For more information, visit www.lexialearning.com.

About Rosetta StoneRosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) is dedicated to changing people’s lives through the power of language and literacy education. The company’s innovative digital solutions drive positive learning outcomes for the inspired learner at home or in schools and workplaces around the world.

Founded in 1992, Rosetta Stone’s language division uses cloud-based solutions to help all types of learners read, write, and speak more than 30 languages. Lexia Learning, Rosetta Stone's literacy education division, was founded more than 30 years ago and is a leader in the literacy education space. Today, Lexia helps students build fundamental reading skills through its rigorously researched, independently evaluated, and widely respected instruction and assessment programs.

For more information, visit www.rosettastone.com. “Rosetta Stone” is a registered trademark or trademark of Rosetta Stone Ltd. in the United States and other countries.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Rosetta Stone PR's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.